Preview: 2023 World Champs Decathlon, Budapest (0)
Finally, on the 7th and 8th days of the World Championships, it’s time to decathlon.
“This will be the BEST Decathlon competition in history. 100%.” said double world decathlon champion Trey Hardee earlier this month. “Write that down (I wrote it down, Trey, here it is) So many guys at 8600+ and much to prove going into 2024. Young guns, older vets, & all the talent in between!”
So far in Budapest, Noah Lyles has won the 100m. We’ll find out tonight how Simon Ehammer does in the long jump. Ryan Crouser took the shot title, Gimbo the high jump. The 400m is wide open. Grant Holloway blasted the hurdles, Daniel Stahl the discus. The vault will be decided on Saturday night, the javelin Sunday. And the Scotsmen continue their 1500m world championships domination.
Over the next two days, we’ll see the athletes who tackle all those ten events over two days. We might expect Damian to run away in the 100m and long jump. Kevin and Lindon to boss the shot. Sander and Kyle springing close to 2.20 in the high jump, Ayden and Ash bothering 45 seconds in the 400m. Back to Damian for the hurdles, Lindon the discus. ZZ loves a big vault, Niklas a mighty javelin and then a tussle with Ayden in the 1500m.
But individual event domination means nothing in decathlon. A first day splash can win you the competition but so can a second day kick. And don’t rule out the power of a steady ten-event slog.
For this year’s decathlon, and with a nod to Trey’s characterisation, there are four different groups of dynamics to look out for, and almost certainly more once we get going.
We’ve got the 8700+ guys, the natural favourites for the event. All of them have 9000 in their sights, if not right now, in their foreseeable future or their recent past.
We have the 8400-8600 athletes, some of them new into that space this year, some comfortable in that territory, all of them with the potential to catch the 8700+ guys.
Then there is the 8100-8300 cohort, unlikely to be in the mix for medals here, but bringing both experience and fresh improvements to the field.
And finally, there are the athletes who perhaps wouldn’t have expected to find themselves in the field, but who earned their opportunity to gain experience from participating at the highest level of the sport.
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